The Distribution of US Published Comics in the UK (1959~1982) 15 15

[Malacoda]

On 12/1/2022 at 7:21 PM, themagicrobot said:

(And no doubt I'll be chastised because the topic was covered in depth 100 pages ago).

Can't've been by me then. If it was me, the explanation would still be going on. 

Jan 82 is the start of dual pricing, so they didn't exactly go back to normal, anything but, but the month started appearing again.  Not sure why it went nuts for a few months before.  There's a whole thing about the shape of the price boxes too. This is the start of direct editions in earnest I think so they were probably trying to figure out how to unify everything but prevent comic shop dealers sending back returns, eventually settling on the ISBN strikethrough, then the picture boxes.  Steve will be along shortly with the dates. And possibly some tables if we play our cards right. 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Malacoda

[OtherEric]

On 12/1/2022 at 1:19 PM, Malacoda said:

Can't've been by me then. If it was me, the explanation would still be going on. 

Don’t exaggerate.  20 pages tops, not 100.

More seriously, you’re almost certainly right that it’s tied to them figuring out the direct editions going forward.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:19 PM, Malacoda said:

Steve will be along shortly with the dates. And possibly some tables if we play our cards right. 

 

[Redshade]

On 12/1/2022 at 2:13 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

That's not me, it's some impostor.

I never ever go out without my cap.

Sometimes I take it off in the bath, but not always.

Did you ever take a bath with Ena, Annie or poor old Martha?

 

[Redshade]

On 12/1/2022 at 7:21 PM, themagicrobot said:

 What was going on there? I'm sure there must be a logical explanation. (And no doubt I'll be chastised because the topic was covered in depth 100 pages ago).

 

 

 

This was discussed extensively back in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[Malacoda]

On 12/1/2022 at 10:14 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

  

Mmmm.  Love the stamp.  Obviously a US arrival date, it's something 'Express Newsstand'. 

I'm convinced that the print order for the monthlies at ECP stayed in the order the titles were launched - they just added a new title to the bottom of the list. This is why Sgt Fury, Avengers, Xmen & DD were the first ones chopped off in all 3 hiatuses. DD was last in line, so if anything was going to miss getting on the lorry and ending up being shipped to the UK as a random leftover batch, my money would be on DD, BUT.....this one appears to have made it into the US distribution system, come back as a return and then found its way over here months later (note the 1/- stamp - it was 6 months before Marvel comics cost 1/-).  That's a pretty sexy comic.   

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:48 PM, Redshade said:

Did you ever take a bath with Ena, Annie or poor old Martha?

Fred made an approach for his top shelf stuff, but our agent advised us to turn it down, and besides, Minnie was already under contact to Paul Raymond.

And Len had problems of his own.

Still waiting for an improved offer from Fred. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/2/2022 at 4:59 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Fred made an approach for his top shelf stuff

After 2.5 years of researching Fred, something amusing occurred to me only the other day.  He spent 17 years as a pornographer, and then founded Ulverscroft large print books for the visually impaired.

And what is it that they say makes you go blind? 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/1/2022 at 1:55 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

If I'm right, to the UK collector, those UKPV gaps would have stayed gaps for half a year and then one day the missing issues would suddenly pop up (

Found an old notebook logging purchases from the summer of 1967.

First time I came across the missing 66ers was:

July 22:  Spider-Man 43, X-Men 25

July 26: Avengers 34, FF 56, Suspense 84

July 28: Strange Tales 151, MCIC 6 (1/6d)

July 31: Astonish 85, Daredevil 21

August 5:  Avengers 33, Spider-Man 42, Thor 133, 134

August 7:  FF 57 (bought from a fellow collector, price not noted)

August 22:  Astonish 86

September 30: X-Man 26 (I had to turn to a fellow collector for that one, and pay 1/3d, I could not find one in the shops)

October 9;  Daredevil 22 (exchange deal)

All other purchases were 10d, so probably the 1/- circle did not appear in my area.

They were difficult to find, I had to go far and wide to find scattered copies, usually singly, but at times a batch of up to 6 of the same issue would appear. I bought all I could find, as they could be immediately moved on at a premium.

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Albert Tatlock
add 1 line

[Albert Tatlock]

How cheap did this have to get before it found a home?

[Malacoda]

On 12/2/2022 at 7:32 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Found an old notebook logging purchases from the summer of 1967.

First time I came across the missing 66ers was:

July 22:  Spider-Man 43, X-Men 25

July 26: Avengers 34, FF 56, Suspense 84

July 28: Strange Tales 151, MCIC 6 (1/6d)

July 31: Astonish 85, Daredevil 21

August 5:  Avengers 33, Spider-Man 42, Thor 133, 134

August 7:  FF 57 (bought from a fellow collector, price not noted)

August 22:  Astonish 86

September 30: X-Man 26 (I had to turn to a fellow collector for that one, and pay 1/3d, I could not find one in the shops)

October 9;  Daredevil 22 (exchange deal)

All other purchases were 10d, so probably the 1/- circle did not appear in my area.

They were difficult to find, I had to go far and wide to find scattered copies, usually singly, but at times a batch of up to 6 of the same issue would appear. I bought all I could find, as they could be immediately moved on at a premium.

 

Albert, your diaries are a resource like no other.   When you say that you went far & wide for these, what sort of radius are we talking?  I suppose what I'm really asking is how many shops.  My 'far & wide' in the 70's was probably only about 2.5 miles in any direction (max 5 miles if I went to Kingston) but being in West London, that was literally dozens of newsagents & other shops. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:09 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

How cheap did this have to get before it found a home?

That does look very Tom Sutton, especially the hair, but I'm getting a whiff of Romita off that girl. That can't possibly be right. 

[Malacoda]

On 12/2/2022 at 7:32 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Found an old notebook logging purchases from the summer of 1967.

First time I came across the missing 66ers was:

July 22:  Spider-Man 43, X-Men 25

July 26: Avengers 34, FF 56, Suspense 84

July 28: Strange Tales 151, MCIC 6 (1/6d)

July 31: Astonish 85, Daredevil 21

August 5:  Avengers 33, Spider-Man 42, Thor 133, 134

August 7:  FF 57 (bought from a fellow collector, price not noted)

August 22:  Astonish 86

September 30: X-Man 26 (I had to turn to a fellow collector for that one, and pay 1/3d, I could not find one in the shops)

October 9;  Daredevil 22 (exchange deal)

All other purchases were 10d, so probably the 1/- circle did not appear in my area.

They were difficult to find, I had to go far and wide to find scattered copies, usually singly, but at times a batch of up to 6 of the same issue would appear. I bought all I could find, as they could be immediately moved on at a premium.

 

Not to be intrusive, but can you talk us through the filing system? What does Coll 855-414 mean? I can't believe you needed an indexing system by this point.  I still don't have one now. 

[Yorick]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:14 PM, Malacoda said:

That does look very Tom Sutton, especially the hair, but I'm getting a whiff of Romita off that girl. That can't possibly be right. 

When I first saw that issue I thought it was Frank Thorne.  It is signed on the left bottom edge of the mirror.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/2/2022 at 7:32 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Found an old notebook logging purchases from the summer of 1967.

First time I came across the missing 66ers was:

July 22:  Spider-Man 43, X-Men 25

July 26: Avengers 34, FF 56, Suspense 84

July 28: Strange Tales 151, MCIC 6 (1/6d)

July 31: Astonish 85, Daredevil 21

August 5:  Avengers 33, Spider-Man 42, Thor 133, 134

August 7:  FF 57 (bought from a fellow collector, price not noted)

August 22:  Astonish 86

September 30: X-Man 26 (I had to turn to a fellow collector for that one, and pay 1/3d, I could not find one in the shops)

October 9;  Daredevil 22 (exchange deal)

All other purchases were 10d, so probably the 1/- circle did not appear in my area.

They were difficult to find, I had to go far and wide to find scattered copies, usually singly, but at times a batch of up to 6 of the same issue would appear. I bought all I could find, as they could be immediately moved on at a premium.

 

Thanks Albert, that all seems to fit the theory. You seem to have bought them around 7-8 months later than they would likely have arrived naturally in the UK, were they produced as UKPVs. 

The out of step DD #29 was on sale in April in the US, so if we take a 3 month window for UK arrival, then it makes sense that the DD #29 would arrive in July/Aug in the UK, along with the 'late' UKPV hiatus copies. I think! Might have to map that out to be sure. Possibly Goldstar made the request around April, having noted the Oct-Dec UKPV gaps, and 3 months shipping later they all arrived. 

The fact that you purchased them in batches also supports the theory that Goldstar had them sent over in one order, with all those other stragglers. I'll double chcek the latest cover date on the other publishers later today, to see if that theory still holds.

Where did you buy them, specifically, can you recall? The same outlets as you would have the UKPVs / T&P stamped copies?

Also, if you bought them oop North, all at 10d, that also supports the theory that the shillings maybe went down south to the richer folk?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:43 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

On 12/1/2022 at 9:19 PM, Malacoda said:

Steve will be along shortly with the dates. And possibly some tables if we play our cards right. 

 

I just updated the 20p missing cover month work I did in that post above (three years ago - doesn't time fly!) to include the subsequent 20p UKPV finds. The revised numbers are to the right of the table extract below (cover month no longer shown from September 1981 issues, all in red):

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/1/2022 at 6:54 PM, themagicrobot said:

Teeny tiny 10d stamps and slightly larger Shilling stamp or am I perhaps seeing things...............

I've seen the shilling one on Gold Keys a few times - and Dells, I think - but I don't think I've a copy with that 10d saved anywhere. 

[Albert Tatlock]

On 12/3/2022 at 1:23 AM, Malacoda said:

Not to be intrusive, but can you talk us through the filing system? What does Coll 855-414 mean? I can't believe you needed an indexing system by this point.  I still don't have one now. 

Just how many DC and Marvel were in my collection at that point. The figures could go down as well as up, as sometimes I decided to liquidate a title I had become disillusioned with, or conversely, the totals could increase without any purchases being made if I relented and brought some previously banished items back into the fold.

With hindsight, of course, I should have clung like a limpet to everything. The collection of one whom the bug has truly bitten should resemble a black hole, once the book has crossed the event horizon, it is there without hope of returning to the outside world.

[Redshade]

On 12/2/2022 at 7:32 PM, Albert Tatlock said:

Found an old notebook logging purchases from the summer of 1967.

First time I came across the missing 66ers was:

July 22:  Spider-Man 43, X-Men 25

July 26: Avengers 34, FF 56, Suspense 84

July 28: Strange Tales 151, MCIC 6 (1/6d)

July 31: Astonish 85, Daredevil 21

August 5:  Avengers 33, Spider-Man 42, Thor 133, 134

August 7:  FF 57 (bought from a fellow collector, price not noted)

August 22:  Astonish 86

September 30: X-Man 26 (I had to turn to a fellow collector for that one, and pay 1/3d, I could not find one in the shops)

October 9;  Daredevil 22 (exchange deal)

All other purchases were 10d, so probably the 1/- circle did not appear in my area.

They were difficult to find, I had to go far and wide to find scattered copies, usually singly, but at times a batch of up to 6 of the same issue would appear. I bought all I could find, as they could be immediately moved on at a premium.

 

We are not worthy enough to be in your presence oh great one!
That is real dedication Albert. I was never that careful with my comics although I do recall having a list of the Ace Doubles I sometimes used to pick up at the newsagent.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Redshade

[OtherEric]

On 12/3/2022 at 2:03 PM, Redshade said:

We are not worthy enough to be in your presense oh great one!
That is real dedication Albert. I was never that careful with my comics although I do recall having a list of the Ace Doubles I sometimes used to pick up at the newsagent.

Well said, Albert's work is amazing to behold.

On a different note, were they the UK Ace Doubles or imported American editions?  I've got a fairly decent collection of the US doubles but I've only seen scant reference to the UK versions... enough to know they sound fascinating.